Healthy bodies, happy lives, one little change at a time.

Undercover Vegan Eggnog

There are some things you just can’t live without at Christmas. Invariably, many of these cherished traditions center around food. And why not? The holidays are a time for gathering with friends and family, laughing and telling stories (and for us, playing games that have a tendency to get a little, shall we say, irreverent). In my opinion, it’s not a time for counting calories; it’s a time for being merry and enjoying all the season has to offer.

But now that I’ve discovered just how much my body dislikes dairy, I was heartbroken to think I’d have to skip out on my mom’s famous eggnog this year. Seriously, if I were an emotional woman, tears might have been shed. This is how much I love her eggnog — creamy, rich, frothy, delicious eggnog — and how much I couldn’t live without it this Christmas.

Now that I’ve been preparing and eating my share of vegan foods, I felt confident enough to try to veganize her recipe. And whaddyaknow, I did it on the first try! Her recipe is admittedly still better, but really the only tangible difference I can tell is that my body doesn’t hate me for drinking my version afterwards. Huzzah!

Because I’m in the giving spirit, I’m sharing the recipe here with you. I call it “Undercover Vegan Eggnog” because you can’t even tell it’s not the “real deal.” In order to get here, however, I had to change the original recipe a bit more than just make it vegan, to disguise the original. My mother might put a hit out on me if I share it. Seriously, it’s that closely-guarded, because yeah, it’s that good. So what I’m saying is don’t even try to reverse-engineer this one to find the original recipe, because you won’t succeed. MWAHAHAHA!!

One important note: This recipe requires one little task the night before (refrigerating the coconut milk), so don’t wait until the last minute to throw this together. Now, read on …

Undercover Vegan Eggnog

Ingredients:

1 can full-fat coconut milk, refrigerated for 12-24 hours

3/4 tsp vanilla extract, divided

3 oz. package of instant vanilla pudding

6 cups almond milk, or non-dairy milk of your choice (non-flavored)

3/4 tsp rum flavoring

Remove the refrigerated coconut milk, being careful not to shake it. You want the solids to have hardened and separated from the liquid. Pour out the liquid coconut water and save for another recipe (goes great in smoothies!). Scoop out the hardened coconut milk and put in a high-powered blender or food processor. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla and blend until frothy. Remove from the blender and set aside.

In a mixer or a large blender, combine the vanilla pudding and the milk and mix on a low setting for a minute or two. Then add the rest of the vanilla (1/4 tsp), 3/4 tsp rum flavoring, and mix for another 10-30 seconds. Add the blended coconut milk and mix lightly until combined and smooth. Serve immediately or refrigerate until party time.